Sunday, January 01, 2012

A Tropical New Year

Happy New Year everyone !     We had a wonderful time celebrating last night with good friends until the wee hours of the morning.   I can never sleep in, so here I am enjoying the morning in my craft room with a cup of tea.

I have a good view of the snow & trees in our backyard from my craft room.   It's very pretty but I'm dreaming about tropical places & flowers !

I created this card using the Cathie Allan "Stamp Smoosh" technique, which is easy.   I enjoyed taking a class with Cathie at the Scrapfest show last Fall.    This stamp is a Poinsettia but I used tropical colours which is a vibrant change from all the Christmas cards and snow themes etc.


This stamp, F5434 Poinsettia Bloom by Hero Art, is a solid image which works well with the 'stamp smoosh' technique.  (start with your lightest colour, stamp down hard and give your wrist a little twist to 'smoosh' the ink)    Fluid Chalk Inks work well as they dry quickly to allow you to 'lay down' your next colour.  I used  heavy white card stock and ColourBox Fluid Chalk Ink set Ocean Breeze - starting with Lime Pastel, then Ice Jade and finally Aquamarine.     I stamped the flower out again with ColourBox Pigment Harbour, in a 'normal' manner.  I embossed these with clear powder.   I stamped out one extra flower to cut and pop up on the card.   I have a hard time making a card without some kind of dimension added.   

Because the background has a lot going on, I really didn't want to cover it up with much else.   I added some ribbon, a charm and a few lime green stickles on the darkest flowers and matted onto co-ordinating card stock.  I used a nestability label - S4347 with a sentiment from Inkadinkado (96614 set) which was also stamped with Colourbox Harbour Pigment Ink, embossed with clear and then inked with Peeled Paint Distress Ink using the die for a mask. 


Thanks for stopping by and I wish you all the best for a Happy, Healthy & Creative 2012 !
Cheers
Shirley

10 comments:

Anjas-Artefaktotum said...

WOW amazing, love your tropical flower card, beautiful color combination!
I wish you a happy new year,
Anja

Ellen Taylor said...

Shirley thise colors together are exquisite! Beautiful background you created! Keep these fab projects coming!! Wishing you and yours all the best in 2012! Thanks for all your sweet comments on my blog!

Cindy in Wisconsin said...

Shirley, HI from another Anything Goes member on Papercraft Planet! This card is beautiful! I love it! It doesn't look like a poinsettia at all, very tropical-looking. Interesting how just using different colors can make that much difference in a design. Pinning this to my Pinterest board, Cardmaking Design Inspiration.

Ina G said...

Just come over from PCP and have only looked at a couple of your cards. Love them and this tropicla one is beautiful. I love summer and the weather here in Oz is glorious. Will now add to my blog http://littlebitsofcraft.blogspot.com/ which is only new. Looking forward to delving deeper into you blog.

Shirley said...

A really beyond lovely card, Shirley!! Thanks for stopping by. I also wanted to wish you and yours a Very Happy Healthy New Year and thank you for your comments, support, and inspiration!!!

Marja's Stamp Addiction en Marja's Creativity said...

Shirley this is so beautiful. What a nice combination and lovely colors. I'll be glad when I look at this. Super made.
Lovely greet
Marja

Anonymous said...

Gorgeous card, the poinsettias are beautiful in teals and greens...

Sue's Crafty Corner said...

A beautiful card Shirley, just right to cheer a wet and very windy day here in the UK. Thank you for your lovely comments that you left on my blog the other day. I love looking at the wonderful creations that everyone out there in blogland make, and yours are truly stunning. I know that I shall be coming back to your blog time and time again.

Happy New Year

Sue x

Saakje said...

Hi Shirley!
What a very very very nice card! I love those colours and the flower! You have such a good taste and talent! You have a great choice of ink colurs to choose from. Nicely done!
Greetings from the Walmolen, Saakje :)

Marn said...

Hi Shirley!
What a beautiful beautiful card! It is so nice and vibrant - indeed cheers a person up for sure! Excellent colours, so very nice! Love that pointsetta! and love that stamp-smooch technique, it looks great! Well done again!
Greetings from Marlene :)